Boost Your Mood through Hot Sauce
Intense physical exercise is not the only way you can increase the production of your brain’s feel good hormones. Did you know that you can achieve a pretty good endorphin rush simply from consuming hot sauce? Hot sauce is frequently found in asian cuisine for the purpose of adding an extra kick to your meal. In this short article below you, find out three of the best endorphin rush hot sauce bottles differing based on intensity of flavour.
How Hot Sauce increases Endorphin Production
Experiencing the intense wave of heat that comes with hot sauce can feel so bad, but so good at the same time. Why, you’re asking? The experience of pain from the chemical capsaicin (which is found in most, if not all hot peppers) is detected in the same brain region as the discomfort during exercise. It is this experience of pain that your body is trying to temporarily mask by increasing the production of endorphins.
Endorphins, your feel-good hormones, have the ability to mask pain better than morphine (SOURCE). This is why following the experience of the real heat of the hot sauce, you are left with feelings of pleasure and relaxation.
Not all hot sauces have to taste horrible to get your taste buds firing. Some hot sauces actually can have quite a great flavor to them. The heat levels are measured in Scoville heat units (SHU). They refer to the number of times capsaicin needs to be diluted by sugar-water to get to the point where you feel no heat at all. Therefore, the higher the SHU, the hotter the sauce.
Best Hot Sauces to Try Out
Hot Sauce #1: Cholula Original Hot Sauce
- Brand: Cholula
- Price: $24.89 CAD (for a 3-pack)
- Ingredients: water, habanero peppers (arbol & piquin), salt, vinegar, garlic powder, spices and xanthan gum
- Flavor: Slightly hotter and spicier than tabasco. This hot sauce goes great with eggs, burgers, mac and cheese, soup,
- Intensity Scale: 3/10 (3,600 Scoville units)
Hot Sauce #2: Endorphin Rush Beyond Hot Sauce
- Brand: Beyond Hot Sauce
- Price: $38.59 CAD
- Ingredients: tomato paste, water, pepper extract, vinegar, sugar, molasses, soy sauce, sulfites
- Flavour: The maker describes the special taste of endorphin rush hot sauce as “… an explosion of flavor, followed by a wave of heat”
- Intensity Scale: 6/10 (33,000 Scoville)
Hot Sauce #3: DA’BOMB Beyond Insanity Hot Sauce
- Brand: AmericanSpice.com
- Price: $21.82 CAD
- Ingredients: Habanero Peppers, Chipotle Puree, Water, Orange Juice Concentrate, Natural Pepper Flavouring, Tomato Paste, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate
- Flavour: Be careful when purchasing bottles of this hot sauce, is it offers significant heat and is the hottest sauce on this list.
- Goes well with: The creator of this hot sauce praises the hot sauce for its versatility and ability to go with most, if not any food. Be careful though, some reviewers mention a somewhat metallic taste after consumption.
- Intensity Scale: 8/10 (135,600 Scoville)
Warning
Before you go ahead and purchase the hottest sauces you can find on the internet, you should be aware of some points when it comes to the consumption of hot and spicy food.
- Some individuals may have a high sensitivity to hot and spicy food (SOURCE). Prior to consuming hot sauce ensure to warm yourself up by trying out less intense condiments such as Sriracha (1,000 – 2,500) or Tabasco (~2,500) and make sure to have a glass of milk ready. Following your experimental phase, adjust your dose of hot sauce accordingly.
- Try to avoid to have the hot sauce come in contact with any sensitive areas such as your eyes, nose, genitalia.
- Results may vary from individual to individual based on heat tolerance
Conclusion
If you are craving a little extra endorphin boost, I recommend that you try out adding some hot sauce to your meals. The great heat you can get from this can induce feelings of pleasure and deep relaxation once the heat disappears.
The best hot sauce to create an endorphin rush for you will be one that causes you moderate-severe temporary pain, as this is the required trigger for your brain to release more of your feel good hormones to mask it. Be careful to test your tolerance for hotness prior to consumption, to not touch sensitive areas following hot sauce consumption. Additionally, you should be aware that results may vary from one person to the next. Ready for your hot sauce endorphin rush?